Empathy map

What it means

An empathy map is a simple tool that describes what a customer sees, hears, says, does, thinks and feels. It helps the team understand the customer's world and look at the product or service through their eyes rather than from the perspective of the company selling it.

The tool was created by Dave Gray of XPLANE and became part of the design thinking approach. It usually also includes two extra fields: pains, meaning fears and obstacles, and gains, meaning what the customer would like to achieve. The whole map fits on one page.

Empathy maps are used in building buyer personas, designing products, UX and marketing communication. They are quicker and less formal than detailed research and serve as common ground on which the team agrees who it is actually working for.

How it works in practice

The map is filled in as a team for one specific type of customer, for example a new sole trader dealing with their first tax return: what they hear from friends, what they see online, what they fear, what they say out loud and what they really think. The gap between words and thoughts is often the most valuable insight.

The best input comes from customer interviews, support questions, reviews and observing how people actually use the service. The map is then carried over into the value proposition canvas, where pains and gains are compared with what the product offers.

The findings feed into website copy, the first steps of the customer journey and support content. If the map shows that customers fear penalties most, communication should stress certainty and deadlines, not just price and convenience.

What to watch out for

A map filled in only from the team's assumptions can lead to wrong conclusions and reinforce existing biases. It should be treated as a set of hypotheses to be tested through interviews and data, and updated whenever the market or customer segment changes.

An empathy map does not replace deeper tools such as jobs to be done or quantitative research. It is a quick start and a way to align the team. For important decisions, such as pricing or a new product, conclusions should also be backed by numbers.